Today I wanted to share a great article with you by Lew White. In this article, he goes into significant depth in talking about homosexuality and the Scriptures. I don't always agree 100 percent with everything Lew White puts out, but he writes some incredibly well informed articles, and I think that you all will really benefit from this particular article:
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http://www.fossilizedcustoms.com/homosexuality.htmlHOMOSEXUALITY - arsenokoites: what it really means
by Lew White
The question:
What does the Torah have to say about homosexuality?
ANSWER: Torah deals with the idea clearly, head-on:
"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads." Leviticus/Wayyiqra 20:13 Mm-Hmmm. . . death, eh?
The Christian translators opted to interpret a Greek word, ARSENOKOITES, and used the word "effeminate" or the phrase "homosexual offenders". But when you see the literal meaning of the Greek, it will leave no doubt in your mind.
The KJV 1 Cor 6:9-10 "Know ye not that the unrighteous (Torah shunners) shall not inherit the kingdom of (*Elohim)? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of (Elohim)?" 1 Cor 6:9-10
The NIV: "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of (*Elohim)? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders (these two words are where the Greek word "ARSENOKOITES" occurs) nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of (*Elohim)." 1 Cor 6:9-10 *"Elohim" refers to Yahuah, but translators put in the word "GOD".
The word used at 1 Cor. 6:9,10 literally means "Male koites", the identical behavior of the Sodomites. Does anyone within the range of this computer screen remember what happened to the city of Sodom, and why?
Translators soften this literal meaning by using "effeminate" or "homosexual offenders" to convey the idea.
The Greek word at 1 Cor. 6:9,10 is #733, ARSENOKOITES, partly based on #2845, KOITE (giving us our word coitus).
The first part of the word, ARSEN, means MALE - thus putting the two parts (ARSEN + KOITE) together, we see it is correctly defined as SODOMITES, the "S" ending in ARSENOKOITES makes the term masculine.
A gay pastor may fail to comprehend the meaning of the "sin of Sodom", which was destroyed as an example to us who would live in that way, and he would also be ignoring the clear warning given at 1 Cor. 6:9-11.
The translators did not bring the literal meaning across using either "sexual offender" or "effeminate". It is much more clear when you look up the Greek word itself, and put it into the context of the sentence.
They clearly will NOT inherit the world-to-come, but be cast alive into the Yam Esh, the LAKE OF FIRE.
Men with men, or women with animals are both situations where it should be clear to everyone that something is wrong, and not normal. Many women have abandoned their "natural function" also, and turned away from child-bearing. Many who have put their professional lives ahead of making families fall into this thinking. Homosexuals, to make themselves feel normal, attempt to adopt children, and usurp the concept of marriage, calling on the legal systems to declare their union a marriage. They call heterosexuals BREEDERS, as if this is an undesirable notion -- where would humanity be without breeders exactly? Where would humanity be without homosexuals exactly? Humanity definitely needs one of these groups, and it appears that the BREEDERS get the prize here. No homo-fear or hate speech is involved here; only authentic, historical facts are presented. If anyone doesn't like the facts and wishes to ignore them, that's their privilege, and they can accept full responsibility for their actions. Don't blame the messenger, even though in this case it may be one of those confounded BREEDERS.
All breeder wanna-be's desire to be accepted equally, without feeling different or accepting the consequences of their behavior. They need to ask themselves, "where did I come from?" The answer is, of course, breeders!
Now for the "rod and staff" lesson to help this sink-in for all homos and heteros:
I'm an "assistant" pastor, since Yahushua is the only Pastor. He is the only "Rabbi" (my Teacher) also, so the best we could ever be is an "assistant" rabbi. That job would naturally make people ask "Who's the Rabbi then?" It would be a job, not a rank or position "over" another - that's important to remember. Our knowledge only makes us more responsible, not "in charge". We're all on level ground before Yahushua. He can lift us higher, but we can't put ourselves there. "Pastor" is a Latin form meaning "SHEPHERD", a word that refers to a "sheep-herder". People are just like sheep, aren't they? The Hebrew word for shepherd is RO, and it is used in Psalm 23,
"Yahuah roi", and means "Yahuah is my Shepherd". Our Shepherd, RO, has His ROD and His STAFF. One of these is to correct us, and the other is to protect us. Isn't that comforting to know? As we study and learn, we receive the ROD as correction for our behavior.
Prov 10:17:
"He who heeds discipline shows the way to life,
but whoever ignores correction leads others astray."
"Pharaoh" (or pharoh) means lead shepherd in the Hebrew language. In the Egyptian, "pharoh" is said to mean "great house", and his main title was "good shepherd" (that sounds familiar somehow). Satan (ha shatan) consistently seeks to usurp Yahushua's position; when this title is taken by any man, they place themselves along-side, or replace, the true Good Shepherd. If a man calls himself "pastor", then it is clear he wants to be put above the sheep, and usurp Yahushua's position over them. If a man allows others to call him their "pastor", he needs to repent immediately from this and humble himself. We are to feed Yahushua's sheep, not receive honor from them.
2 Peter 2:1-11 "But there also came to be false prophets among the people, as also among you there shall be false teachers, who shall secretly bring in destructive heresies, and deny the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. And many shall follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, and in greed, with fabricated words, they shall use you for gain. From of old their judgment does not linger, and their destruction does not slumber. For if Elohim did not spare the messengers who sinned, but sent them to Tartaros, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be kept for judgment, and did not spare the world of old, but preserved Noah, a proclaimer of righteousness, and seven others, bringing in the flood on the world of the wicked, and having reduced to ashes the cities of Sedom and Amorah condemned them to destruction – having made them an example to those who afterward would live wickedly, and rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed with the indecent behaviour of the lawless (for day after day that righteous man, dwelling among them, tortured his righteous being by seeing and hearing their lawless works), then Yahweh knows how to rescue the reverent ones from trial and to keep the unrighteous unto the day of judgment, to be punished, and most of all those walking after the flesh in filthy lust and despising authority– bold, headstrong, speaking evil of esteemed ones, whereas messengers who are greater in strength and power do not bring a slanderous accusation against them before the Master."
Women with women - how about that?
Like you, I've wondered about this and found NOTHING specific in Leviticus/Wayyiqra about it - but keep reading!
What is proper to consider in this case is the intention of Yahushua when He created man and woman, and their "natural function".
Having His mind within us, we can discern His perfect plan; but we can also distort it with our own whims.
There are still two possibilities:
1. Yahuah didn't bring it up for the reason that it is not a sin worthy of death, but yet it may be.
2. He DID bring it up, but we missed it in translation. How?
When He inspired the text in the Hebrew, the word for "animal" is #929, BEHEMAH, and applies to any cattle, beast, or living entity. If we understand the general point of this, then it would include living creatures of any kind that are not appropriate, even alien beings from other worlds (if they were to actually exist).
The "NEPHESH CHAYIM" is the "breath of life", however the word "NEPHESH" also means BEING or ENTITY, a living thing. The improper use of the sexual act, or any sexual activity which might defile us is wrong, such as joining ourselves to a prostitute. There are many discussions in Scripture warning us of prostitution, and it is clearly wrong, yet it is a man with a woman.
Any "living being" that we mate with is carefully considered at Lev. 18 and Lev. 20, as we see here:
Lev 18:23-26:
"'Do not have sexual relations with an animal (behemoth) and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.
"'Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees and my laws."
Lev 20:16:
"'If a woman approaches an animal (behemoth) to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."
So, what is a "perversion" would simply be any activity not intended by our Creator. If women all got together by themselves, men would be left without their natural affection. One of Shaul's statements haunts me as he describes the state of things in the extreme end-times:
Rom 1:24-27:
"Therefore Elohim gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of Elohim for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For this reason Elohim gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error."
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